The Black Caps are taking on India at a time when cricket in that country is thriving and former New Zealand fast bowler Shane Bond says the series will provide the ultimate benchmark.
Kane Williamson in action against India 2016. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Black Caps start their tour proper with the first of the three One Day Internationals in Mumbai tonight, which are then followed by three T20 matches.
Last year the Black Caps lost the ODI series in India 3-2.
India is ranked number one in Tests, two in ODI's and a lowly fifth in T20's.
Bond, who coached the New Zealand A side on their just completed tour of India, said the game there was on a high.
"They're in their golden era of cricket, they've got obviously a huge amount of resources behind them, they've got a strong first class structure, they're just going through a really great era for them and they're just dominating. It's tough to see that changing given the amount of financial resources behind them and the amount of quality players over here."
While many of the Black Caps have not played for a while they do have a number of players from the A side.
Bond said the top New Zealand players were no strangers to that part of the world.
"They know the conditions that they're going to walk into. There's world class players in that side and you'd think New Zealand are going to be pretty competitive. I'm really looking forward to the series actually. On the back of what has been a tough series for Australia, so it will be a benchmark for New Zealand to see where they actually currently sit."
India beat Australia 4-1 in the ODI series and they drew the T20 series.
Ready to right the wrongs of 2016
Black Caps captain Kane Williamson said his side had unfinished business with the Indian cricketers.
New Zealand came close to securing a rare series win over India on the subcontinent last year but were thrashed in the final match.
Williamson said that series loss was still fresh in his mind.
"We still didn't put out our best performance in that last series, that was a hard fought series but we still were striving for that performance that we know we can put out and hopefully we can show that in this series."
Williamson said his batsmen cannot focus too much on India's spin threats or they will come undone elsewhere.
He said while spin will play a large role in the series, being adaptable was the key to making big totals on the subcontinent.
"You play on some very very good surfaces and you play on some that are more challenging, spin a lot more and you have dew factor. You have a number of things that come into it so it is important we are flexible, we adapt well and I think that's very important when you're coming over here."
The first ODI between New Zealand and India starts at 9pm tonight.
